Flyers

ABSTRACT

A device for winding packages of synthetic plastic tape includes a member for controlling the lay of the tape which is designed to overcome the problems of the ridging normally encountered. The device may comprise a part which is traversed in relation to a rotary support or may be a flyer driven round the axis of a stationary support in which case the member is in the form of a finger which has at its package-engaging end a tape guide on its outer surface for controlling the lateral movement of the tape and on its inner surface directly opposite the tape guide an inwardly projecting nose portion shaped for engaging the surface of the package over a width less than that of the tape guide. The end of the finger adjacent the nose portion is capable of elastic displacement, preferably resulting from the resilience of the finger itself, in a direction axial of the package in relation to its support by a distance equal to at least half the width of the tape guide. If ridging starts the nose portion will engage the intervening depressions to wind tape in the depressions and as a result of the elastic displacement will tend to dwell for a short period in each depression until it jumps to the next depression. In this way a smooth surfaced package is formed.

lll'ite lites athl Maclrie [151 5,6d3,dl

[72] Inventor: John K. 1?. Maclkie, Belfast, Northern Ireland [22]Filed: Mar. 16,1970

[21] Appl.No.: 119,789

352,937 4/1961 Switzerland .57/117 Primary Examiner-John PetrakesAtt0rneyLarson, Taylor and Hinds [57] STCT A device for winding packagesof synthetic plastic tape includes a member for controlling the lay ofthe tape which is designed to overcome the problems of the ridgingnormally encountered. The device may comprise a part which is traversedin relation to a rotary support or may be a flyer driven round the axisof a stationary support in which case the member is in the form of afinger which has at its package-engaging end a tape guide on its outersurface for controlling the lateral movement of the tape and on itsinner surface directly opposite the tape guide an inwardly projectingnose portion shaped for engaging the surface of the package over a widthless than that of the tape guide. The end of the finger adjacent thenose portion is capable of elastic displacement, preferably resultingfrom the resilience of the finger itself, in a direction axial of thepackage in relation to its support by a distance equal to at least halfthe width of the tape guide. if n'dging starts the nose portion willengage the intervening depressions to wind tape in the depressions andas a result of the elastic displacement will tend to dwell for a shortperiod in each depression until it jumps to the next depression. In thisway a smooth surfaced package is formed.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing ll igures lFLYlElkS This invention relates to thewinding of packages of synthetic plastic tape. This can be achievedeither by rotating a support for the package and traversing, in relationto this support, a member for controlling the lay of the tape, or bywinding the tape on a nonrotary support by means of a flyer driven roundthe axis of the support while relative axial traversing motion takesplace between the flyer and the support. The latter method is describedin our US. Pat. No. 3,449,901 which sets out the necessary conditions toensure that the twist which is applied to the tape as a result of therevolution of the flyer is represented in the resultant package bylocalized folds spaced apart by relatively long lengths of untwistedtape. The invention will be described primarily in connection with aflyer for use in the second of the two methods referred to, but isequally applicable to a device for use in the first of the two methods.

In order to control the traversing movement of the tape in relation tothe surface of the package when using a flyer, the member forcontrolling the lay of the tape takes the form of a finger which extendsinto contact with the surface of the package and which is biasedinwardly so as to overcome the effects of centrifugal force. As shown inthe specification referred to above this finger takes the form of alight arm which is pivoted to the body of the flyer. The tape to bewound passes over the end of the finger immediately before being laid onthe package and to provide accurate control of the axial position of thetape the finger needs to be provided with a tape guide which may be inthe form of a notch, only slightly wider than the tape itself Even withthis form of control it is difiicult to build a uniform package. Owingto its width the turns of tape cannot lie side by side in the samemanner as yarn but tend to overlap one another. Under certaincircumstances it is found that this leads to a ridged formation ofpackage and once such ridging has started during the initial stages ofthe building of the package it then tends to become accentuated as thepackage grows larger. While it is possible to theorize on the reasonsfor this ridging, such theories have no relevance to the presentinvention which merely takes this observed fact as its starting point. Asimilar problem occurs when the package itself is rotated and the memberfor controlling the lay of the tape is itself traversed.

According to the present invention the member for con trolling the layof the tape has at its package-engaging end and on the outer surface atape guide for controlling the lateral movement of the tape and, on itsinner surface directly opposite the tape guide, an inwardly projectingnose portion shaped for engaging the surface of the package over a widthless than that of the tape guide. in addition the end of the memberadjacent the nose portion is capable of elastic displacement in adirection axial of the package in relation to its support by a distanceequal to at least half the width of the tape guide.

As a result of this construction, if ridges start to form on the surfaceof the package the nose portion on the member will engage theintervening depressions (since it is found in practice that these arenormally at least as wide as the width of the tape and hence of the tapeguide on the member) and this will tend to prevent the end of the memberfollowing the relative traversing motion between the member and thepackage. In other words the end of the member will tend to dwell for ashort period in each depression and since the tape guide is immediatelyopposite the nose portion this dwell will usually be sufficient to causeat least one extra turn of tape to be wound in the depression and 1mtend to counteract the effect of ridging.

The displacement of the end of the member will cause an elasticrestoring force which will gradually increase, and this, in combinationwith reduction of the contact area on the side of the nose portioncaused by outward movement of the nose portion due to winding of thetape in the depression, releases the member which then returns to itsequilibrium position in relation to its support until it engages thenext depression. In this way the traversing movement of the end of themember in relation to the surface of the package is periodically delayedfor short periods during which the tape is wound in the depressionsrather than on the ridges and in this way the effect of ridging iscounteracted so as to give a. much smoother surface to the package as awhole. This is a major advantage because the formation of ridges hasbeen found to cause considerable difficulty in the subsequent unwindingof the package.

The axial displacement of the end of the member is preferably achievedas a result of resilience of the member itself but it is also possiblefor the member to be rigid and the displacement to be achieved, forexample, by permitting elastic yielding of the support for the member.The requirement that the member should be capable of yielding by adistance of at least half the width of the tape guide ensures that thenose portion will remain in a depression until the dis placement issufficiently great to ensure that as soon as the nose moves out of thedepression the next turn of winding will occur, not on the adjacentridge, but in the next intervening depression. Consequently if ridgingof the surface of the package once starts, the smooth relativetraversing motion is converted into a stepwise motion of the end of themember. the nose portion moving from depression to depression untilthese have been filled in sufficiently to allow the nose portion totravel smoothly over the surface of the package without being impeded.

As previously mentioned the tape guide needs to be very slightly widerthan the tape to be wound and since this guide receives a considerableamount of wear from the tape it needs to be formed of wear resistantmaterial. Preferably therefore the end of the member is formed by ahardened steel pin which is cranked to define the nose portion forengaging the package and is formed on the opposite side with a notchdefining the tape guide. Thus the finger may be formed as a moulding ofplastic with the steel pin forming an extension of this moulding.

When the device is in the form of a flyer, the member is constituted bya finger which needs to be biased inwardly to overcome the effects ofcentrifugal force. In order to provide the inward bias the finger may bemounted to turn about a spindle forming part of its support and may beacted on by a coil spring which encircles the spindle and applies thebias.

Generally speaking the winding device may be required to wind a numberof different widths of tape and the tape guide needs to have a width tomatch each different tape. If the finger is formed as a plastic mouldingand is mounted to turn about a spindle as just described the mouldingmay have a slot at its end for fitting over and gripping the spindle sothat the finger is readily removable from its support to permitinterchangeability. When changing from one width of tape to another itis then merely a question of removing one finger and replacing it byanother fitted with a tape guide of the appropriate width.

A construction of winding device in accordance with the invention willnow be described in the form of a flyer by way of example with referenceto the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l is an elevation showing the upper portion of a package beingwound and the lower portion of a fiyer fitted with a finger for guidingthe tape onto the surface of the package, part of the flyer being brokenaway for purposes of illustration;

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view to a somewhat larger scale showingthe finger of FIG. l removed from its support; and,

H0. 3 is a view of part of the surface of the package seen in atangential direction and illustrating the end of the finger bearingagainst the surface of the package.

Turning first to FIG. l a package indicated generally as l is shown asbeing wound with synthetic plastic tape 2 while mounted on anonrotatable support 3. For this purpose a flyer is used of which thelower part is indicated at ii and which is similar in operation to thatdescribed in the earlier specification mentioned above except thatinstead of enclosing the top of the package 1 the flyer is of an openwork construction comprising a flanged ring 6 supported by spaced rods 7which are broken away in the drawing but converge upwardly to a commontop portion. At the left-hand side as seen in FIG. 1 the flange of thering 6 is extended downwardly at 8 to form a support for a finger 11 forguiding the tape 2 onto the surface of the package 1. It is theconstruction and mounting of this finger which constitutes the subjectmatter of the present invention.

The main body portion of the finger 11 comprises a moulding 12 of nylonor other similar plastic. At the innermost end where it engages thesurface of the package 1 the body 12 has an extension 13 which is formedby a hardened steel pin cranked as best seen in FIG. 3 to form awide-angled V. The apex of the V constitutes a nose portion 14 on theinner surface of the finger while on its outer surface immediatelyopposite the nose portion 14 is a slot 15 which constitutes a guide forthe tape 2 and is consequently slightly wider than the tape for thispurpose.

FIG. 2 shows the finger l1 removed from its support which comprises avertical spindle extending between the ring 6 and a part 21 projectingfrom the part 8 of the flange of the ring 6. The spindle 20 is encircledby a coiled spring 22 of which the upper end is anchored and the lowerend is formed with an extending portion 23 which engages the finger 11to bias it inwardly against the surface of the package 1. As best seenfrom FIG. 2 the outer end of the finger 11 is formed with a slot 26which broadens out into a partially circular portion 27 which encirclesand grips the spindle 20 owing to the resilience of the material. Theouter end of the finger 11 extends on the far side of the spindle 20 at28 and is formed with an upwardly extending stud 29 which acts as acounterweight which helps to compensate for the effects of centrifugalforce on the finger 11 during operation. As can be seen from FIG. 1which shows the finger 11 in its assembled position the effect ofcentrifugal force on the main body of the lever is to swing it outwardlyagainst the bias applied by the spring 22. The outward force on theportion 28 and the counterweight 29 produces an opposite turning momentabout the spindle 20 to have a compensating effect. The tape 2 is leddownwardly from the top of the flyer, around a guide runner 32 andthence through the guide notch I5 onto the surface of the package Iwhere it is being wound.

As can be seen from both FIGS. 1 and 3 the surface of the package 1below the winding point illustrated is shown with a series of smallridges. The package is in its upward reciprocating stroke and theportion above the winding point is shown as relatively smooth, thedepressions having been filled in by the action of the finger 11 alreadydescribed. To recapitulate briefly the nose portion 14 is located withina depression between adjacent ridges as seen best in FIG. 3 and as thepackage 1 continues its upward relative movement the nose portion 14tends to dwell in this depression, this action being permitted by theresilience of the finger 11. The finger 11 is capable of resilientdistortion so as to permit displacement of the nose portion 14 by adistance rather greater than that between a depression and the nextadjacent ridge. As already mentioned the distance between successiveridges is found to be at least as wide as the width of the tape so thatthe distance between a depression and the ridge is rather more than halfthe width of the tape, that is to say, rather more than half the widthof the tape guide i5. As the package moves upwardly the stress in thefinger 11 is increased until a point is reached when it moves abruptlyinto the next lower depression. During the period of time while itremains in the depression shown in FIG. 3 perhaps two or three turns ofthe tape will have been wound which will tend to fill the depression andlead to an even surface on the package and this process is repeated insuccession for each depression so that all the tape is wound in thedepressions rather than on the ridges and the surface is progressivelyevened out. The depth of the depressions is exaggerated in FIGS. 1 and 3for purposes of illustration because it will be urderstood that thesmoothing action just described occurs throughout the building of thepackage so that there is no opportunity for the ridges to reach the sizeillustrated. Ridges of the size illustrated are generally typical of theconfiguration obtained with previous winding arrangements but with anarrangement in accordance with the invention any tendency towards theformation of ridges is automatically counteracted in the manner justdescribed.

The flyer illustrated may need to be used with a number of differentwidths of tape which require correspondingly differing widths of tapeguide 15. For this purpose interchangeable fingers are used fitted withtape guides of different widths corresponding to the tapes to be wound.By virtue of the construction seen most clearly in FIG. 2 each fingerIll may be readily removed from its spindle 20 and may then be replacedby a similar finger having a tape guide of a different width. On amultiple machine having a relatively large number of flyers such as thatillustrated it is a simple matter to interchange a complete set offingers so as to convert for use with a different width of tape.

1 claim:

1. A device for use in winding packages of a flat tape such as syntheticplastic tape or the like including a member for controlling the lay ofthe tape on to the surface of the package and a support for said member,said member having a package-engaging end which has on its outer surfaceat said end a tape guide means for controlling lateral movement of saidtape of a given width and said member having on its inner surfacedirectly opposite said tape guide means, an inwardly projecting noseportion, means for causing said nose portion to engage the surface ofsaid package over a width less than said given width of said tape guide,elastic means for permitting said package-engaging end of said member tobe displaced elastically in a direction axial of said package inrelation to said support by a distance equal to at least half the saidwidth of said tape guide.

2. A device according to claim I, in which said member itself issufficiently resilient to permit said elastic displacement and henceconstitute said elastic means.

3. A device according to claim 1, having said package-engaging endformed by a hardened steel pin, said pin being cranked to define saidnose portion and formed on said outer side with a notch defining saidtape guide.

4. A device according to claim 1, in which said member is readilyremovable from said support to permit interchangeability.

5. A flyer for use in winding packages of a flat tape such as syntheticplastic tape or the like including a finger, a spindle pivotallysupporting said finger and a coiled spring encircling said spindle andapplying inward bias to said finger, said finger having apackage-engaging end and which has on its outer surface a tape guidemeans for controlling lateral movement of said tape of a given width andsaid member having on its inner surface directly opposite said tapeguide means, an inwardly projecting nose portion, means for causing saidnose portion to engage the surface of said package over a width lessthan the said given width of said tape guide, elastic means forpermitting said package-engaging end of said finger to be elasticallydistorted in a direction axial of said package in relation to saidspindle by a distance equal to at least half the said width of said tapeguide.

6. A device according to claim 5, in which said finger has a body formedas a moulding of plastic and having a slot at its end for fitting overand gripping said spindle.

7. A method of substantially eliminating circumferential ridges duringwinding of a flat tape onto the package with a flyer which moves,relative to the surface of the package, both circumferentiallythereabout and axially therealong, comprising the steps of: bringing thetape to the package by moving the flyer relative to the tape toestablish relative rotational and relative axial movement between thepackage and a tape guide means on the flyer, sensing grooves betweenridges on a partially wound tape and delaying the said axial movement ofthe tape guide means until after additional turns of tape have sul)stantlally filled a. groove up to the level of its adj acent ridges.

ouilz

1. A device for use in winding packages of a flat tape such as syntheticplastic tape or the like including a member for controlling the lay ofthe tape on to the surface of the package and a support for said member,said member having a packageengaging end which has on its outer surfaCeat said end a tape guide means for controlling lateral movement of saidtape of a given width and said member having on its inner surfacedirectly opposite said tape guide means, an inwardly projecting noseportion, means for causing said nose portion to engage the surface ofsaid package over a width less than said given width of said tape guide,elastic means for permitting said packageengaging end of said member tobe displaced elastically in a direction axial of said package inrelation to said support by a distance equal to at least half the saidwidth of said tape guide.
 2. A device according to claim 1, in whichsaid member itself is sufficiently resilient to permit said elasticdisplacement and hence constitute said elastic means.
 3. A deviceaccording to claim 1, having said package-engaging end formed by ahardened steel pin, said pin being cranked to define said nose portionand formed on said outer side with a notch defining said tape guide. 4.A device according to claim 1, in which said member is readily removablefrom said support to permit interchangeability.
 5. A flyer for use inwinding packages of a flat tape such as synthetic plastic tape or thelike including a finger, a spindle pivotally supporting said finger anda coiled spring encircling said spindle and applying inward bias to saidfinger, said finger having a package-engaging end and which has on itsouter surface a tape guide means for controlling lateral movement ofsaid tape of a given width and said member having on its inner surfacedirectly opposite said tape guide means, an inwardly projecting noseportion, means for causing said nose portion to engage the surface ofsaid package over a width less than the said given width of said tapeguide, elastic means for permitting said package-engaging end of saidfinger to be elastically distorted in a direction axial of said packagein relation to said spindle by a distance equal to at least half thesaid width of said tape guide.
 6. A device according to claim 5, inwhich said finger has a body formed as a moulding of plastic and havinga slot at its end for fitting over and gripping said spindle.
 7. Amethod of substantially eliminating circumferential ridges duringwinding of a flat tape onto the package with a flyer which moves,relative to the surface of the package, both circumferentiallythereabout and axially therealong, comprising the steps of: bringing thetape to the package by moving the flyer relative to the tape toestablish relative rotational and relative axial movement between thepackage and a tape guide means on the flyer, sensing grooves betweenridges on a partially wound tape and delaying the said axial movement ofthe tape guide means until after additional turns of tape havesubstantially filled a groove up to the level of its adjacent ridges.